The Academic Learning & Teaching Center Is Now Open
The Academic Learning & Teaching Center opened its doors on Feb. 16 to students, faculty, staff and community members.
The new building is a $51.2 million nexus of interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation, and super-technology.
Among the nation’s most advanced learning environments, this premier 130,000-square-foot center features 31 classrooms enlivened by connectivity, plus a revolutionary digital anatomy lab with three dimensional interactive imaging.
The first floor features a technology support center, a student lounge, a bookstore, a restaurant and express food service, an outreach lab and several small collaborative classrooms.
The second floor features a faculty development center, lounges, seminar classrooms, and several small collaborative classrooms.
The third floor features four large classrooms with seating capacity for 140 to 280 students. The classrooms are unique because there is no front or back of the classroom and is considered an integrated space linked by technology. Each student collaboration table connects with a hand-held device, allowing the instructor to move across the space and use the room’s multiple large screens to create an interactive and dynamic learning environment.
The sub level includes a new Anatomy Learning Center which features three-dimensional visualization that exponentially augments the traditional human anatomy curriculum.
The program featured
– Dr. William Henrich, president of UT Health Science Center San Antonio
– Dr. Francisco Gonzalez-Scarano, dean of the UT School of Medicine at San Antonio
– The Honorable Ivy R. Taylor, mayor of San Antonio
– The Honorable Nelson Wolff, judge of Bexar County
– Keeneth C. Queliza, presidential ambassador scholar from the School of Health Professions
– Sara Martinez Tucker, regent from The University of Texas System Board of Regents
The UT System Board of Regents approved $45 million from the Permanent University Fund to construct the ALTC. Kell Munoz Architects designed the building and Bartlett Cocke General Contractors supervised the construction.
Sara Martinez Tucker, member of The University of Texas System Board of Regents, accepted the building on behalf of the Regents and ceremonially turned it over to UT Health Science Center President Dr. William L. Henrich.
Regent Tucker said, “This structure is striking and will no doubt serve for decades to come as a beacon for outstanding teaching and learning for future health professionals.”
